Posts from Building Supply

Of the many Before and Afters we have featured, this one may take the prize for the biggest blindside, meaning when you click through, you will in no way have figured out what was coming and the 'After' photo just may knock you flat. While you can sometimes predict how a thrift store dresser or end table will be saved and transformed, just try it with this box spring. You'll be wrong. Trust us. Just go look.

A few months back I submitted a Good Question to the Apartment Therapy community asking if you knew where to find a swag light similar to Don Draper's. The answer, it seems, is that half of you remember seeing one in your grandmother's house decades ago, the other half of you just threw one away, and the only two similar lights in the world were just snagged by Emily Henderson at an L.A. thrift store. Well, it's a few days before the season finale, and I'm finally done making my own.

Quick, name the first three playground structures that pop into your head--a slide, swings, and a see-saw, right? Well, slides and swings can still be found everywhere but see-saws are teetering on the edge of extinction. Safety issues and liability concerns have made them pretty rare. But for those of us who grew up with see-saws it is hard to imagine a childhood without them. If you want one these days you'll have to build it yourself. Luckily, that prospect just got a bit easier.

After spending the long weekend in a small cabin in Wisconsin, I'm beginning to reconsider my urban life. Or, at least, I'm reconsidering whether I'd like to someday have a small weekend home in a rural setting. I went in search of kit houses for inspiration and, like a good blogger, I'm sharing the information with you, dear reader. Start dreaming of your tiny vacation home now!

It's gotten really easy to be green while updating a kitchen or bath. Not only are newer fixtures and appliances more energy efficient, more companies are producing recycled building materials so you can stay green from the studs out. From flooring to fixtures, here's a little roundup of our favorite resources for green kitchen and bath rehabs.

When the time comes to remodel a bathroom, most of us are inexperienced novices. We might look at samples, read remodeling blogs and mags, and talk to some storeowners and contractors, hoping everything will come out all right in the end. For us ingénues, the idea of a "bathroom in a box" — where nearly everything is taken care of, from fixture choices to installation — seems appealing.

Sometimes a design solution seems so obvious and simple that it is surprising it took so long for someone to think of. That is the case with the PermaFLOW Transparent Never-Clog Drain. The design of this drain is unique in several ways. The most obvious is of course that the drain is transparent, allowing you to see what is causing a clog, but that is not the only thing that makes this award winning drain stand out.

What's not to love about vertical gardens and green roofs? The actual task of making them, maybe? No worries, GSky Plant Systems can do the work for you. The company has installed over 50 vertical gardens in North America, and offers four different systems based on size and complexity needs — indoors and out.

Whether you're gutting your bathroom or just giving it a little facelift, sometimes the hardest part of getting started is sourcing the essentials. While our list is in no way complete, these stores are some of our favorites.

Before you lay down a new concrete driveway, or a coating of asphalt, consider an aesthetic and environmental alternative: permeable paving. Traditional driveways tend to not only be unsightly, but also contribute to increased flooding, ambient temperatures and maintenance. Here's why permeable driveways are better.